Michael Bublé

Michael Bublé (born 9 September, 1975 in Burnaby, British Columbia) is a Canadian crooner, pop jazz singer and actor. While achieving modest chart success in the United States, his 2003 self-titled album has reached the top ten in Canada, the UK and Australia. In 2004, a live album and video Come Fly With Me (2004) was listed on the Billboard music video charts and reached Australia's top 40 album charts. He reached commercial success in the U.S. with It's Time. Michael Bublé is of Italian descent.

Early years

He grew up listening to his grandfather's collection of jazz records. On his website, Bublé highlights the importance of his grandfather in encouraging his musical tastes. "My grandfather was really my best friend growing up. He was the one who opened me up to a whole world of music that seemed to have been passed over by my generation. Although I like rock & roll and modern music, the first time my granddad played me the Mills Brothers, something magical happened. The lyrics were so romantic, so real... the way a song should be for me. It was like seeing my future flash before me. I wanted to be a singer and I knew that this was the music that I wanted to sing."

Bublé's grandfather encouraged him to learn the standards that he loved and to enter a talent contest in Vancouver which he won before a later disqualification for being underage. Not discouraged, he won first prize in a Canadian Youth Talent Search at the age of seventeen. He was awarded the first prize.

For the next few years, Bublé pursued a musical career without great success. He appeared as Elvis in a Red Rock Diner road show and sung as a star of a musical revue called Forever Swing. He also appeared in an episode of Death Game in 1996. He recorded a couple of independent albums, one as a present to his grandfather. Bublé received two Genie Awards in 2000 for songs he wrote for the film Here's To Life starring Eric McCormack.

His grandfather from his father's side was a fisherman. He owned two boats, one which was named Dalmacija (Dalmatia); Dalmatia being the part of Croatia where his grandfather came from.

The Wedding Singer: career breakthrough

Bublé's career breakthrough came when he sang Kurt Weill's "Mack The Knife" at the wedding of Brian Mulroney's daughter Caroline in 2000. Mulroney introduced Bublé to David Foster, a multi-Grammy awarding producer and a Warner Brothers record executive who had worked with Josh Groban previously. Foster signed Bublé to his '143' record label and he started recording a self-titled album 2001 with Foster as producer. The album features a range of standards from various eras including "Fever", "The Way You Look Tonight", "For Once in My Life", Van Morrison's "Moondance" and Lou Rawls's "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine". Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees sang back up vocals on Bublé's version of the group's "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart".

Michael Bublé was released in early 2003 and soon entered the Canadian album charts. Chart success in the UK, US, Australia and elsewhere soon followed with the album going platinum and reaching the top ten of the album charts in the UK and Canada and going all the way to #1 in Australia. The album has reached the top 50 of the Billboard 200 album charts. His version of George Michael's "Kissing A Fool" was released as a single from the album and reached the top 30 of the Billboard adult contemporary chart. "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart" reached the top 30 of the Billboard adult contemporary chart as well. His third single "Sway", originally performed by Dean Martin also reached the top 30 of the adult contemporary chart while a Junkie XL remix of the song reached the top 20 in Australia in May 2004.

Bublé won the "Best New Talent" award at the Juno Awards of 2004 and his self-titled album was nominated for "Album Of The Year" losing out to Sam Roberts.

Bublé released a Christmas EP Let It Snow in late 2003. The title track reached the Australian top 40 in the singles charts, ironically in mid-summer in that country. He released a live album and video in April 2004 with the video reaching the top 10 of the Billboard video charts. The album also reached the Australian top 50 of the album charts as at the end of April and the Billboard 200 album charts.

Bublé has also appeared in a variety of films in the past few years including his appearance as a karaoke singer in Duets opposite Gwyneth Paltrow and Huey Lewis. He also has appeared in Totally Blonde in 2001 and in The Snow Walker in 2003.

Songs from Bublé's debut album ("For Once in My Life", "Kissing A Fool") were released on the soundtrack for the Ewan McGregor/Renée Zellweger movie Down With Love, but the soundtrack also included a previously unreleased duet with Holly Palmer on the movie's title theme. The Junkie XL remix of "Spider-Man" from Bublé's Babalu album was played during the closing credits of Spider-Man 2 and this version was also released as a single.

It's Time: Bublé goes mainstream

Bublé's second studio album, It's Time, debuted as a hugely successful sophomore performance. The album reached No. 7 on the Billboard Album Charts and No. 2 on the ARIA Album Charts in Australia. It's Time also debuted at No. 4 on the UK Album Charts. The album features covers of Beatles and Ray Charles songs, as well as a collaboration with Stevie Wonder and the hit single "Home".

Bublé can be seen in Starbucks commercials singing his cover of the Jimmy Van Heusen/Sammy Cahn swing standard, "Come Fly With Me," from his debut album, and more recently, ESPN has used "Feeling Good" in commercials for poker tournaments.

Michael Bublé has now sold in excess of ten million recordings world-wide. He is rapidly becoming one of the most popular young singers in the world today. He has a massive following across Europe, North America, Australia, South East Asia, South Africa and Brazil.

Michael Bublé won four Juno awards at the 2006 Juno Awards in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, including Pop Album Of The Year (It's Time), Single Of The Year (Home), Album Of The Year (Michael Bublé), and Artist Of The Year. He was also nominated for the Juno Fan Choice Award, but did not win. Overall, Michael Bublé took away the most awards at the 2006 Junos.

He is managed by Bruce Allen, who also manages Martina McBride and Bryan Adams.

Bublé has collected some of the best musicians in the world to appear with him. Most of them have albums of their own out. They support him brilliantly, and he shows his appreciation by showcasing their talents. In each concert, he features an instrumental number while he takes a break.

He also pays close attention to his fans, allowing them to photograph him at venues that don't otherwise allow cameras, signing autographs, posing for after show photos.

He is currently dating actress Emily Blunt, much to the dismay of his female audience.

Discography

Worldwide: 4 million^*

Year	Title	Sales
1996	First Dance
2001	Babalu
2002	Dream
2003	Down With Love (Soundtrack)
2003	Michael Bublé
2003	Let It Snow (EP)
2004	Come Fly With Me
2005	It's Time	US: 1,894,515 ^*
200	Caught In The Act
2006	With Love (EP)

Singles

2005 "Home" #1 Canada, #72 US, #4 Australia, #63 UK (double-A-side with Song for You in the UK)
2006 "Save The Last Dance For Me" #99 US

Filmography

Duets (2000)
Totally Blonde (2001)
The Snow Walker (2003)
Kath and Kim -- Da Kath & Kim Code (2005)

External links